Thermography: Finding Tumors Before They Happen

My primary care doctor, a traditional, mainstream, 'script-writing doctor whom I only use for lab work, kept insisting I get a mammogram; I’m 46 and have only had one mammogram, over 7 years ago.

Instead, I promised her I would get a thermogram (ain’t no way I was going to do another mammogram). Because of my insistence, I found the doctor I’ve been looking for these last two years.

Dr. Maggie is such a gem. As soon as I met her, I immediately knew that she's one ofus.

I’ve talked about the importance of finding a doctor who is open and willing to work with you as you continue your journey to wellness. There are some good ones out there who actually get excited about having patients like us. Those are the doctors we want to partner with. And don’t you know, that’s who Dr. Maggie is.

I went in to get a thermogram and ended up with so much more than that. She’s a doctor who speaks my language. Finally.

What's the difference between a thermogram and a mammogram?

So, obviously, I’m not a fan of mammograms. After my one and only experience with them, I decided there has to be a better way to screen for abnormalities. Low and behold, there is: It’s called thermography and it’s truly cutting edge.

Thermography uses digital infrared imaging, totally non-invasive and free from radiation. They work by allowing trained radiologists to see heat distribution in structures or regions, especially useful for detecting tumors.

It takes all of 15 minutes to have it done. You stand naked from the waist up, but unlike a mammogram, you don’t have to squish your boobs or get into other weird and painful positions. You stand about 5 feet away from a machine that takes pictures of you. That’s it. Other than having to rotate around so it can get a full picture of your front, back and sides, you just stand there.

The only uncomfortable thing about the process is the being naked part.

In traditional mammograms, tumors have to already be formed in order to be seen, while thermography allows for doctors to see the potential of tumors developing by looking for “hot spots” in the body. After the scan, it’s sent to a radiologist for review and the results are then sent to your doctor. You need to do 2 thermograms, 3 months apart, to establish a baseline. If you don’t have any areas of concern, you can go for a few years between scans.

If there are hotspots, you’ll be able to keep an eye on them by having scans done every few months to see if anything develops.

Ideally, if you do have any abnormalities, you can address them through diet, years before they develop into tumors. This, my friend, really is preventative medicine at its best.

Living proof of the benefits of the ketogenic lifestyle

When Dr. Maggie called me with the results from my first scan, she was blown away. She said she rarely gets to call with results like I had unless it was for somebody in their 20’s.

My scan was completely clean.

Nothing - no hotspots or abnormalities even with my 15-year-old breast implants (breast implants are supposed to be replaced every 10 years). She told me after my next thermogram, I could go another 3 years without having to do another one as long as I wasn’t having any issues.

She also said to keep doing what I was doing because the proof was in the scans.

I know, without a shadow of a doubt, if I hadn’t changed my lifestyle so completely, the scan would have been anything but normal.

I’m relieved but, at the same time, I intuitively knew I was good. My body has been generous and responsive with all of the changes I made and this was reassurance of the highest order.

The only downside to the thermograms is that most insurances don’t cover them. I paid $165 for mine, willingly mind you. As long as traditional medicine revolves around the pharmaceutical companies, mammograms will be free while everything else... not so much.

It’s time to do some out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to preventive medicine, especially when the box was created by Big Pharma.